Piano sounding-board



(No Model.)

R. A. MURRAY.

PIANO SOUNDING BOARD.

No. 290,090. Patented Dec. 11, 1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

ROBERT A. MURRAY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

PIANO SOUNDlNG-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,090, dated December 11, 1883.

Application filed February 16, 1853. (No model.)

To an whom) it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. :MURRAY, of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in SoundingBoards for Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a top view of a piano with the top or cover and the ordinary iron plate re moved, showing my improved sounding-board. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken 011 line 2 2, Fig. 1, and with iron plate. Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on line 3 8, Fig. 1.

My invention relates to a sounding-board for pianos, made from plate-glass with its sides turned up-,-forming an alcove, for the purpose of producing a great volume and sweetness of sound.

Referring to the drawings, Arepresents the body of the piano, B the keys, 0 the hammers, D the wires, and E the metallic plate, all of which may be of any common and wellknown construction, having nothing to do with my invention.

F represents the sounding-board, resting on suitable strips, G, and, like other soundingboards, located beneath the strings or wires D. This board, as before stated, is made of plateglass and has its outer edge turned upward,

inward, and downward, substantially as shown, for the purpose of increasing the volume and sweetness of the tone of the instrument. I prefer, also, to form a depression in the board (see Fig. 1) resembling a human ear, to increase the tone, more especially, of the first treble, which is weak in allinstruments using a cominon sounding-board.

The outer edge of the sounding-board may be turned up all the way around, or a portion of it need not be turned up, as shown in Fig. 1.

The glass should be annealed.

I do not wish to confine myself to any given shape or size of the board, as these may vary in different pianos; but

'What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sounding board for pianos, formed wholly of glass, with edges turned upward, in ward, and downward, to form alcoves integral therewith, as shown and described, for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with apiano, a soundingboard formed wholly of glass, having its edges turned upward, inward, and downward, to form alcoves integral therewith, and a depression in the treble portion, as set forth.

ROBERT A. MURRAY. 1V itnesses:

SAML. KNIGHT, G120. H. KNIGHT. 

